'Praise be the Goddess' shouted the girl as she rang her bell on the street. In front of her was a well set up shrine covered with flowers. Even more in front of that was a small bowl.

'Praise be to Goddess! Thank you sir, may the goddess bless you and your kin.' She bowed slightly, waving as the man walked away.

A tall, stiff looking woman in an expensive kimono stopped and frowned at the girl.

'What is all this?' she gestured vaguely to the shrine, a look of contempt curling her lip.

'Oh, it is a shrine to the Goddess Akirame, the kind and most benevolent. It is in benefit of a children's home in her honour.' The girl bowed to her as she finished explaining. The woman just sneered more.

'I have never heard of this goddess that you speak of, is she a foreign deity?' she asked with a curl of her lip.

At first the girl looked confused. Her fine dark brows furrowed and she pouted. Then her face cleared suddenly and she smiled.

'No, of course not, madam! She is not foreign to anything! She gave birth to the world and looks after each of her precious children. She loves us all.' she finished dramatically.

The woman gathered up her parcels and turned to walk away.

'If that were true, missy, there wouldn't be any orphans now would there?' she walked away feeling superior.

Far from being put off, the girl merely bowed and wished the woman a good day.

'Praise be to the Goddess, sir. Would you donate a meal to a starving child? Goddess blesses those who give.' The man replied something rude. 'Yes, the goddess can help that too but exorcism is very expensive. Do have a good day.'

The sun was hot by now and people were retreating into the shade of the surrounding buildings. She sighed as she sat on her little stool and took out her canteen. She took a sip and reminded herself to fill it before she left town. She emptied the bowl of all but a few coins and tucked it all away in her kimono. In her mind, the money was takoyaki and dango and thus needed to be safely put away. She was about to stand when she noticed two very strange figures walking down the street. Their appearance was so strange that she wondered at first if they were demons. They wore long black cloaks with bright red clouds embroidered on it. Her fears were allayed as one reached up and casually adjusted his large straw hat. He was the bigger of the two and if she was seeing right his hand had been blue.

'Pardon me sirs, Goddess be praised, would you donate a meal to a child. Goddess blesses those who give charitably.' The two figures didn't stop their slow progress down the street.

'Goddess be praised, you both look like well off men who could afford a few coins to charity. Perhaps the Goddess could help you with your skin deformity, though miracles are very expensive.' The girl frowned at the thought of how much a miracle would cost in this day and age. She was about to wish them a good day when she realised that they had stopped.

'Praise be to Goddess, but are you okay? Perhaps the sun is affecting you. Would you like some water?' she turned around to pick up her canteen and when she turned the figure was right in front of her.

She gave him her biggest smile and offered the canteen.

'It's not as full as I would like but you are welcome to all of it.' She held it out and watched as he smacked it out of her hand. Her hand stung but she did not show it. Instead, she bowed.

'Gomennasai. Goddess be praised.'

'I do not have a skin deformity.' came a tight aggressive whisper. She tilted her head up and looked at the stranger straight in the face. She frowned as she took him all in and then beamed radiantly.

'I am twice as sorry, sir, Goddess forgive. I meant no offense. I did not realise you were one of them...' she replied in loud rapturous tones. With that she bowed low.

As she stood she raised a stick of incense and began chanting.

'Blessed be the blue man, consort to the Goddess!' She used the incense stick to make smoky circles around his face. 'Oh consort! Bless this humble maiden...' she bowed deeply again.

The man in front of her was panicking, ok, well panicking as much as the staid fearless man could panic. People who had been, only moments before, minding their own damn business were now staring at him and his partner in curiosity. He didn't even have to read their lips to know that they were wondering who this 'blue man' was. He was aware that he was very distinctive. His appearance made him somewhat of a liability in stealth missions where pople were left alive. Frowning he looked to his partner, asking him by body language alone to 'fix this'.

His partner walked over to the girl who was rhapsodising about the wonderfully manly attributes of the Goddesses blue consort. He reached menacingly into his cloak. The girl looked up and caught the colour of his eyes. She shrieked and dove behind the taller man. The shorter man sighed imperceptibly and deactivated his eyes.

'Demon!' she shouted. 'Begone demon!' A temple maiden is virgin pure, you will not have your lascivious ways with me!'

Two dark eyebrows raised in disbelief before he dropped a bag of coins into her bowl. The girl seemed confused at this. She glanced at the money bag and then moved out from behind the taller man's back.

Her wide hazel eyes narrowed and her face became serious. She bowed, never taking her eyes off the man in front of her.

'Arigato, brother demon. I will accept this as treatise between us and I will not attempt to exorcise you, though this would have covered the amount. Now go and trouble young virgins no more.'

She then turned to the Goddess's consort. She bowed deeply. When she straightened she stood on her toes and whispered something to the man, glancing back every so often at the shorter of the two. Whatever it was, the blue one was shaking hard with laughter as they walked away. Every so often he would turn and look back at the dark haired girl and start to laugh again.

The shorter man was all but twitching as they reached their destination. Time to scout around, he thought eyeing his partner with increased irritation. He spotted a teahouse and made his way over. His partner followed, still snickering to himself.

'Kisame,' he said sitting 'You will pay this time.'

His partner nodded and reached down to pull out his money pouch. He frowned and stopped. He just stopped, all motion, even breathing. The world seemed to still around his rage. Suddenly he took off. His partner being an incredibly intelligent man, understood from the moment he saw his partners face what must have happened. When they reached the corner when she had been, it was empty. Kisame growled and clenched his fists.

'Whatever you had found so amusing had better be worth the 500000ryo we paid for it.' His partner commented turning and walking back the way they had come. Food or not they still had a mission to complete.

His partner followed, still angry.

'It's not worth it yet but once we finish this mission and find her, I am damn well going to make it worth it!' he suddenly sped up, hurrying to the rendezvous point. He would show her! Playing him for a fool! Manly presence and virility! You'll see!

His partner just stared at his back and smiled. Today was a good day.

Miles away, the professional thief sneezed and sneezed again. For a few moments she continued this way, helpless in the grasp of this fit. Man, someone must be really pissed at me. She thought smugly then turned bright blue eyes to the sky. Takoyaki, beef barbeque, miso soup, tofu and eggplant...Today was a good day. Goddess be praised.

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